


Homecoming

by IGOM



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Implied/Referenced Character Death, LOTS OF SPOILERS, Light Angst, Rated teen because G seems too soft, beta read but by basically Raphael
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:08:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26702716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IGOM/pseuds/IGOM
Summary: Claude comes back to Garreg Mach Monastery after nearly forty years of being King of Almyra with questions for the Archbishop of Seiros, but he's afraid that he may be too late to get the answers he's looking for.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Homecoming

Khalid had not been to Garreg Mach since his academy days. He knew the history of it, of course; the place had become a ruin during the Fodlan Unification War, but it bore none of those scars now. Again, it was the bustling city of his youth as if it had been untouched in those long years of strife. No doubt the devout King Dimitri of all Fodlan had spent a considerable sum to assist the archbishop who had once been his general in the renovations. He looked up at the spires of the place with the same sense of apprehension he felt when he was a beardless boy about to enter the academy. The feeling was the same, but its source vastly different. Then, he had been at odds with himself, wanting to tell everyone that he was Almyran and yet understanding the need for concealment. Now, he worried that he had come too late and that he should have spilled his secrets sooner.

  
To tell the truth, he had avoided Fodlan for the very reason he was here now at the end of his life. Dimitri hadn't minded coming to Almyra when the situation required; too noble for his own good after the war and his madness had washed away, the king had always accepted even the flimsiest of Khalid's excuses not to travel west. He had gleaned details from these meetings about those he cared about in Fodlan, trying to seem disinterested when the subject of the archbishop came about. This was partly to maintain the facade he relied on as King of Almyra; indifferent at best toward the Seiros faith, hostile at worst. His hold on the throne had frequently been tenuous and it took every trick in Khalid's considerable book of them to keep it.

  
Partly, it was personal. In the rare moments he left alone, his mind had frequently turned toward the archbishop of its own traitorous accord. It wasn't lovesickness, though perhaps in his younger days there could have a whisper of that when he saw her around the monastery at Dimitri's side. But he had always felt more than a bit of jealousy, that he had to admit. Without her, it was doubtful that Dimitri would have become anything beyond his rage and despair, sharpened but rough. She had been the forge that tempered the Fodlan king into a man of true beauty and purpose. If she had joined Khalid instead, what could he have accomplished? The question dogged his every decision once it came into his head.

  
A contingent of guards came forward, looking at him with a mixture of caution and respect. "What does an Almyran wyvern master want with Garreg Mach Monastery?" They had been allies these thirty odd years, but some habits still had yet to be broken. This was part of why he had been reluctant; it had been difficult enough to convince his own vassals back home to accept him as their king, and he simply didn't have the energy to wage that particular war on two fronts.

  
"I'm the King of Almyra, and I seek an audience with her Grace the Archbishop." He wasn't sure if he _was_ still king, but no one would know that in Fodlan for another week at least and the messengers came with tidings of the new king chosen; he had abdicated three days prior and set himself westward at long last. "Tell her Claude von Riegan seeks her counsel."

  
He waited in the stables, securing the tethers for his wyvern; a borrowed mount from the royal stables, as he had left his beloved Saaba behind as a prize for the next king. She was worthy of a king, and as he was no longer it seemed to be a shame to waste her last good years with a man who had hung up his armor for good. Still, he treated this one as gently as he had his darling companion of all these years.

  
A surprise; he knew the face of the person who came to greet him next. The man had not aged, his hair still as green and full as Khalid remembered. More importantly, he was alone, and Seteth came close so they could talk. "You may be disappointed in what counsel the archbishop has to offer. She has not been human for many years now. Not since Dimitri passed."

  
Khalid considered his words. "Is there really nothing left of Teach in that body?"

He saw the man shrug. "If she is still there, both she and the goddess are content to let Sothis keep control."

  
"I would still like to see her." With a glance, he dared, "Have you been here this entire time?"

Seteth laughed. "No, that would have been too dangerous. Flayn and I left for awhile, enough time for most people to forget." A hesitation. "Now that the goddess is here, however, I think we will be able to stay here for a good long while."

He was led up to the top of the monastery where the archbishop's chambers lay. He almost asked why she hadn't taken the Goddess Tower as her residence but held his tongue. If this went well, he could ask Byleth directly. Seteth knocked on the door of her chamber, and Khalid felt his heart flutter at the sound of her voice, unchanged despite the decades since he heard it last. "Cichol, is that you with my visitor?"

"Yes, your Grace. I've already directed servants to bring refreshments."

"Thank you, Cichol. You know I always forget how much humans need to eat." The door opened, and Khalid was allowed to pass through the threshold on his trembling legs. Her face was as unchanged as her voice, smooth and youthful. Gone was the armor of a mercenary, and instead she wore a soft white dress befitting the role of archbishop. She looked at him with a curious expression. "It's almost as if you're a different person than you were then. But I suppose with a different name and different title, you really aren't the man that the vessel once knew."

He sat down, feeling unable to keep himself upright at those words. "The vessel."

"Yes, the vessel. What was her name again? She was always so stubborn, even to the end." The Goddess' nails rapped against the table in thought. "Oh, how troublesome."

"Byleth." Teach, Professor, General, Byleth Eisner.

"That was it! Oh, I envy humans sometimes and their ability to recall such small, petty details." She smiled when the tea and cakes were brought and poured for him. "I do enjoy watching you all eat, when my visitors come."

He picked up the tea, more to do something with his hands and mouth while he thought about what to say, about what to do. At last, when he felt the silence had been too long, he spoke. "I came here with a request."

She waved a hand. "Of course, of course. You don't have to say it. Everyone comes here with a request. Do you want to be blessed, do you want someone else to be blessed, do you need to know what awaits you after the end of your life?" Sothis laughed. "Those are the most common requests for ones like you, all simple to explain, too."

Khalid shook his head, and looked into Sothis' eyes, feeling a sinking pain behind his ribs. _You were too late, you fool,_ he cursed himself. "I wanted to talk to Byleth one last time."

In all his years, he had surprised a goodly number of people, but never a goddess, and the sight of Sothis' eyes widened with shock were almost enough to make up for his mistake of not coming sooner. She frowned, and silence filled the room. Khalid finished his tea and poured a second cup before she spoke. "She still exists, in a fashion. Fragments, threads, here and there, still in this body. But I...I'm not sure if I can pull enough together for you to speak to what you imagine her to be. The death of the king did more damage to her than all her long years of sharing a body with a goddess."

"All I ask you to try. Please."

"All right, don't beg. It's not becoming of a king. Not even Dimitri begged, and he had far more sins than you." She shut her eyes. Khalid held his breath, his heart beat painfully loud in his ears for those long minutes. 

When they opened again, there was a small smile on the face of the person opposite him. "Claude."

"Teach?"

The smile grew, and she looked down at the table, and picked up a cake. "How many years has it been?"

"Thirty six since we last met."

Her eyes narrowed in thought. "Dimitri's been dead for four years, then? I've lost so much time." A nibble on the cake, and she looked over the table. "There's not another cup?"

He pushed his to her; anything to keep Byleth here. "Teach, I," she held up a hand, and he laughed; she had no time for his self pity now, that much he understood from the gesture. "I wanted to ask you something."

"I know, she told me as much," she replied with a tap to her temple. "Quickly, please, this is tiring for the both of us."

He cleared his throat and nodded. "All those years ago, when you chose to lead the Lions. Did you regret it? Could things have turned out differently if you had chosen someone else?" _If you had chosen me,_ he wanted to ask, but kept that behind his teeth.

She sighed and set down the cup and the cake. Her hands were small and warm on his, and she looked into his eyes. "Claude, I tried to save all of you, I really did. I used the goddess' powers again and again to find a way to save as many of the students as I could, but every time..." her voice trembled; as a professor, she had never talked this much. It seemed as if she wanted to speak as much as she could before she slipped away again. "I sided with you or I sided with Edelgard, and still people died. At least with Dimitri, I could save two of you, and as many people as I could."

"When you sided with me, you couldn't-"

"Dimitri's madness never changed. He whispered to voices only he could hear long before we met him." She turned away from his gaze.

"I'm sorry. I thought it best for all of us that Edelgard's ambition be cut down, and Dimitri needed me more than you did."

His throat felt dry, but he dared not take the cup back from her now. "May I ask another question?"

"Don't be so modest, ask anything."

"If it had been me, would I have been a good king of Fodlan?"

She chuckled. "No, because you never wanted Fodlan. Even when I helped you unify the continent, you left to go home." She touched his check in a motherly gesture of affection. "My dear Claude, you know your heart always belonged to Almyra, even when you agreed to take your grandfather up on his offer of becoming his heir. Once you saw that Fodlan was no different than Almyra for you, it only made you bitter. Am I wrong?"

"Being king of Almyra has only made me even more bitter." They had been long, frustrating years, trying to keep the raucous Almyran generals and lords unified despite his suspect lineage.

She smiled. "Still as cheeky as ever." He wondered how much of the goddess crept into her, even now. "There was no changing that, I'm afraid. You becoming king was something immutable in time that even goddess magic could not change. The only time in which you didn't was when Edelgard had you killed after you surrendered during a fight at Derdriu." She paused. "I rewound time to prevent that from happening."

It was painful to swallow, and yet it still had to be done. Khalid took her hands once more; something told him her time was coming to an end. "Byleth, could you bless me?" He never wanted or sought the goddess' blessing, but now he so desperately wanted hers.

Gently, she took his face in both her hands; they were softer than he imagined they would be now they were rarely used to wield weapons in these peaceful days. "King Khalid, my Claude, you've always had my blessing to live your life as you saw fit. Far be it from a mercenary to dictate the lives of others." He closed his eyes as she kissed his forehead, her lips lingering only a moment longer than they perhaps should have. "I hope you find peace in your last days."

He opened his eyes. She smiled, her hands still on his cheeks; but this was not his dear friend the professor who smiled. "If I could, I would like to stay here, until the end."

"The Goddess grants you your wish. Do as you will." He stood and bowed. Sothis waved a hand. "One last thing."

"Yes?"

Another smile, more wistful than the last. "She says thank you."

Seteth was waiting for him on the second floor, near where the professor's quarters lay. "Did you get what you were after, your Majesty?"

He nodded, and looked west out the window. The sun was setting, the sky in full bloom, pinks and oranges melting together over the monastery. All these years, and what a fool he had been. Always chasing this feeling; that comforting sensation of being home.


End file.
